Plans of Safe Care are important protective factors for parent-child relationships in families affected by substance use. At START, we build practices upon evidence, demonstrating that with adequate support, access to resources, and therapeutic treatment, parents with substance use disorders can parent safely. Additionally, while long-term parent-child separation does cause a traumatic rupture in the relationship with long-term developmental consequences for the child and a negative impact on a parent’s recovery, a plan can help mitigate or in some cases eliminate these effects all together.
As a key component of safe parenting with substance use, at START, a Plan of Safe Care is a document co-created by a Doula/Case Manager, an Early Relational Health Clinician, and the family served. It outlines factors that families have in place to support infant safety, including:
- Engagement in treatment
- Family members to provide in-home support and supervision, as needed
- Community supports
- Safe medication storage
- Family strengths
And information that the family has received such as:
- Safe sleep training
- Infant soothing techniques
- Hotlines for in-the-moment assistance
The plan is then shared with the family’s Child Protection & Permanency worker ahead of the birth, when families have an open case. Collaborative conversations fill gaps in services and include all parties to equip families for success. Plans for custody and care can be facilitated, as well, so that families are educated and prepared for possibilities post-birth. For families without an open DCP&P case, the plan is an opportunity to have a documented list of supports in place either before the birth occurs, by calling the child welfare hotline and having information on file or prepared at the hospital when the child welfare assessment occurs.
Plans of Safe Care are powerful tools to support safe parenting and secure infant-parent attachment. They are also a vehicle to create understanding that with adequate treatment, support and resources, parents with substance use disorders can safely parent their children while preserving the vitally important relationship with their child.